This invention relates to enzyme technology.
More particularly, the invention relates to a process for oxidizing the alcohol side chain of the following compound (II), which is either a compound elaborated by the microorganism Streptomyces sandaensis No. 6897 (FERM BP-792) as such or a chemical transformation product thereof, to thereby transform the compound (II) to the following compound (I) having an aldehyde side chain.
Compound (I) is not only a compound having high antitumoral activity of its own but also a synthetic intermediate of other compounds having antitumoral activity, and there has been a standing demand for a microorganism capable of transforming compound (II) to compound (I) with good efficiency.

(wherein R1 represents hydrogen, a lower alkanoyl group or a lower alkyl group; R2 and R3 each represents hydrogen or a lower alkanoyl group)
The inventors of this invention explored extensively for a microorganism which would be able to convert the alcohol side chain of compound (II) to an aldehyde side chain. As a result, they discovered novel oxidase-producing microorganisms in the genus Fusarium and succeeded in converting this substrate to the following compound (I) having an aldehyde side chain. 
(wherein R1, R2 and R3 are respectively as defined above).
Among species of compound (I) and compound (II) those compounds having hydrogen for each of R1, R2 and R3 have been named FR900482 and FR066979, respectively. Those compounds are elaborated by the microorganism Streptomyces sandaensis No. 6897 (FERM BP-792) and are known compounds having antitumoral and other activities as disclosed in Kokai Tokkyo Koho S61-10590 in Examples 1 and 8 of its specification. Moreover, FR066979 can be produced by the process described in Kokai Tokkyo Koho H1-101893 as well.
FR900482 and FR066979 are the most preferred object compound and starting compound, respectively, of this invention.
Meanwhile, among species of compound (I), the compound having acetyl for each of R1, R2 and R3 has been named FR066973, the compound having hydrogen for each of R1 and R2 and acetyl for R3 has been named FR66980, and the compound having methyl for R1 and acetyl for each of R2 and R3 has been named FR073317, and those compounds are described in Kokai Tokkyo Koho S61-10590 in Examples 3, 4 (and 6), and 51, respectively, of its specification.
While compounds (I) and (II) contain asymmetric carbon within their chemical structures, the isomers due to the asymmetric carbon also fall within the scope of compounds (I) and (II) of the invention.
Referring to the above formulae (I) and (II), the following are the more specific definitions and preferred examples.
Unless otherwise indicated, the term xe2x80x9clowerxe2x80x9d is used in this specification to mean 1xcx9c6 carbon atoms.
The preferred xe2x80x9clower alkanoyl groupxe2x80x9d includes C1-6 alkanoyl groups such as formyl, acetyl, propionyl, butyryl, isobutyryl, valeryl, isovaleryl, pivaloyl, hexanoyl, etc., more preferably C1-4 alkanoyl groups, and particularly acetyl.
The preferred xe2x80x9clower alkyl groupxe2x80x9d includes C1-6 alkyl groups such as methyl, ethyl, propyl, isopropyl, butyl, isobutyl, tert-butyl, pentyl, hexyl, etc., preferably C1-4 alkyl, and more preferably methyl.
The outstanding features of this invention are now described.
The microorganism according to this invention is first described.
Characters of Strain F-122
The strain named Fusarium sp. No. 122 (hereinafter abbreviated as Strain No. 122), which is capable of transforming compound (II) to compound (I), was newly isolated from the soil sample collected in Yakushima, Kagoshima-ken. The characters of Strain No. 122 are now described.
This fungus Strain No. 122 was isolated from the soil sample collected in Yakushima, Kagoshima-ken. This microorganism gave broadly diffuse growth on various media and formed white to yellowish white colonies. On various media, Strain No. 122 did not form teleomorphs but formed anamorphs characterized by hyphae bearing phialides (conidiogenous cells) and two types of conidia differing in size, i.e. navicular macroconidia and oval microconidia. The mode of conidiogenesis was phialidic. The mycological characteristics of Strain No. 122 are as follows.
The cultural characteristics on various agar media are summarized in Table 1. On potato dextrose agar, the strain gave broadly diffuse growth, which attained a diameter of 8.0 cm or more by 2 weeks at 25xc2x0 C. The colony surface was elevated, lanose, and white to yellowish white in color. As to conidia, whereas the microconidia were numerous, the macroconidia were few. The reverse color was yellowish white. On corn meal agar, the strain grew as rapidly as on potato dextrose agar, spreading to a diameter of xe2x89xa78.0 cm under the same conditions. The colony surface was protuberant, felty or lanose, and white in color. The conidia, particularly microconidia, were abundantly produced. The reverse color of the colony was white to yellowish white.
The morphological characterization was made on the culture using a sporogenetic medium favoring the formation of macroconidia (medium composition: glycerin 1 g; sodium nitrate 0.5 g; potassium dihydrogen phosphate 0.2 g; yeast extract 0.1 g; agar 15 g; distilled water 1 L). The conidiophores of Strain No. 122 cannot be clearly differentiated from the substrate mycelium, and phialides are directly produced in the form of short branches of the aerial and substrate mycelia. There also are cases in which the substrate hyphae form a dense mass like a sporodochium and phialides occur within or on top of the mass. The phialide is colorless, glabrous, cylindrical to lecythiform, measuring 8xcx9c17 (xcx9c20)xc3x972xcx9c3 xcexcm, and produces macro- and microconidia from its tip in succession. The macroconidia are colorless, glabrous, 2xcx9c4 (xcx9c6)-celled, navicular or lunatexcx9callantoid, slightly sinuate and acute at both ends, and measuring 25xcx9c35 (xcx9c42)xc3x973.5xcx9c4.5 (xcx9c5.5) xcexcm. The microconidium is colorless, glabrous, 1 (xcx9c2)-celled, slightly sinuate oval (perprolate), and measuring 6xcx9c16 (xcx9c20)xc3x972.5xcx9c4 xcexcm. The substrate mycelium is glabrous, septate, colorless, and branching. The hypha is cylindrical and 2xcx9c3.5 xcexcm in width. Chlamydospores are not formed. When this strain was cultured on Sabouraud""s dextrose agar, a black, globose sclerotium is sometimes formed.
Strain No. 122 is able to grow at 2xcx9c31xc2x0 C. , with the optimum temperature for growth being 21xcx9c25xc2x0 C. Those data were generated using potato dextrose agar (Nissui).
The above characteristics of Strain No. 122 were compared with the relevant descriptions in the literature on the classification and nomenclature of fungi such as G. R. Barron: The Genera of Hyphomycetes from Soil, pp. 239-241, Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, 1968; J. A. von Arx: The Genera of Fungi, Sporulating in Pure Culture, pp. 180-184, J. Cramer, Vaduz, 1974; and K. H. Domsch, W. Gams and T. -H. Anderson: Compendium of Soil Fungi, pp. 517-524, Academic Press, London, 1980. The comparison showed agreements with the described characteristics of Fusarium link (1809), suggesting that Strain No. 122 is a strain of microorganism belonging to the genus Fusarium. Accordingly the strain was named Fusarium sp. No. 122. This strain was deposited with National Institute of Bioscience and Human Technology and assigned with the accession number of FERM P-15763 (date of deposit: Aug. 2, 1996), which was subsequently converted to a deposit under Budapest Treaty and assigned with the accession number of FERM BP-6156 (date of deposit: Oct. 23, 1997).
Those data are based on the observation made 14 days of culture at 25xc2x0 C. The names of colors are based on Methuen Handbook of Colour (Kornerup, A. and J. H. Wanscher, 3rd ed., 525pp., Methuen, London, 1978).
Characters of Producer Strain F-104
Strain F-104 is a fungal strain owned by the applicant. This microorganism gave widely diffuse growth on various media, forming floccose to lanose, white to reddish white colonies. This strain formed anamorphs on several media but did not form teleomorphs. The anamorph is phialidic, with the slightly branched conidiophore producing two types of conidia (2xcx9c5-celled falcate macroconidia and 1xcx9c2-celled pyriform microconidia). Looking up those morphological characters in J. A. von Arx""s book on the classification of fungi (J. A. von Arx: The Genera of Fungi, Sporulating in Pure Culture, 3rd ed., pp. 145xcx9c163, J. Cramer, Vaduz, 1974), the inventors found that Strain F-104 apparently belongs to the genus Fusarium (Fusarium Link 1809) among imperfect fungi. The mycological characteristics of Strain F-104 are as follows.
The cultural characteristics on various agar media are summarized in Table 2. The growth on potato dextrose agar was widely diffuse, attaining a diameter of 6.0xcx9c6.5 cm by 2 weeks at 25xc2x0 C. and forming round colonies. The colony surface was elevated and floccose to lanose. The colony color was white to reddish white with a grayish red margin. The reverse color was brownish purple to purplish brown and, peripherally, pinkish gray to dull red. On this medium, the strain did not form a conidioma. Colony spreads more rapidly on corn meal agar medium under the same conditions as above and spread to more than 9.0 cm in diameter, thus reaching the wall of the dish. The colony expanded radially and circularly and its surface was flat, thin, pulverulent, and pinkish white to pink in color, with a white to pinkish white margin. The substrate mycelium was endogenous (submerged in the substratum) and conidiomata and chlamydospores were sparingly observed. The reverse color was identical with the surface color.
Morphological characterization was made on the basis of the observation on LCA medium in accordance with Miura. K. and M. Kudo: Trans, Mycol. Soc. Japan, 11: 116-118, 1970. The macroconidia and microconidia were produced from the phialides borne by the conidiophore. The conidiophore was colorless, glabrous, septate, more or less monopodial, giving off a few branches and forming conidiogenous cells (phialides) as short branches. The phialide was colorless, glabrous, cylndrical with a slightly narrowed tip, and measured 10xcx9c20xc3x973xcx9c5 xcexcm. The conidia were produced enteroblastically from the tip of the phialide in basipetal succession, forming slimy masses. The macroconidia are colorless, glabrous, 2xcx9c4 (xcx9c5)-celled, prominently curved either at both ends or at the tip, falcate to navicular, sometimes with a vesicle at the base, and measured (15xcx9c) 23xcx9c34 (xcx9c43)xc3x973xcx9c4.5 (xcx9c5) xcexcm. Moreover, frequently cylindrical or slightly curved navicular conidia sized (5xcx9c) 10xcx9c15xc3x972.5xcx9c3.5 xcexcm were intermingly present. They were colorless, glabrous, 1-celled, and rarely septate 2-celled. The microconidia were colorless, glabrous, 1 (xcx9c2)-celled, and pyriform to ellipsoidal, with a rounded but at times slightly pointed tip, and measured 9xcx9c13.5 (xcx9c18)xc3x974.5xcx9c5 (xcx9c7) xcexcm. The substrate mycelium was glabrous, septate, colorless, and branched. The hyphae was cylindrical and 2xcx9c6 xcexcm wide. On corn meal agar, subglobose to ellipsoidal chlamydosphores were observed among the hyphae and they measured 5xcx9c10 xcexcm in diameter.
Strain F-104 was capable of growing at 2xcx9c32xc2x0 C., with the optimum temperature for growth being 21xcx9c24xc2x0 C. The growth data were generated on potato dextrose agar (Nissui Pharmaceutical).
The above mycological characters of the strain were compared with the relevant descriptions in the literature, namely C. Booth: The Genus Fusarium, pp. 237, Commonwealth Mycological Institute, Kew, 1971 and K. H. Domsch, W. Gams and T. -H. Anderson: Compendium of Soil Fungi, pp. 303-341, Academic Press, London, 1980. The results of comparison chiefly with regard to colony color, growth rate, features of the phialide, and morphological characteristics of the macroconidia and microconidia suggested that Strain F-104 belongs to Fusarium tricinctum (Corda) Sacc. 1886). Therefore, this strain was identified to be a strain of Fusarium tricinctum No. 104. This strain has been deposited with National Institute of Bioscience and Human Technology under the accession number of FERM BP-6155 (date of deposit: Oct. 23, 1997).
The above data are based on the observation made 14 days of culture at 25xc2x0 C. The names of colors are based on Methuen Handbook of Colour (Rornerup, A. and J. H. Wanscher, 3rd ed., 525p., Methuen, London, 1978).
The process for producing compound (I) is not restricted to the method utilizing the microorganisms herein disclosed for illustrative purposes. Thus, this invention encompasses the use of spontaneous mutants and artificial mutants which can be derived from the above-mentioned microorganisms by the conventional methods for mutagenesis, such as X-ray irradiation, UV irradiation, and treatment with N-methyl-Nxe2x80x2-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine, 2-aminopurine or the like chemical, only provided that such mutants retain the ability to transform compound (II) to compound (I).
The following is a partial list of FR900482-producers other than Fusarium sp. No. 122 and No. 104. The Fusarium strains owned by the applicant:
Fusarium camptoceras (F-0500)
Fusarium equiseti (F-0499)
Fusarium graminearum (F-0497)
Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (F-0091)
Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lini (F-0092)
Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lini (F-0094)
Fusarium oxysporum (F-0097)
Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. narcissi (F-0105)
Fusarium poae (F-0502)
Fusarium sambucinum (F-0498)
Fusarium solani var. coeruleum (F-0496)
Fusarium sp. F3-1 (F-0183)
Fusarium sporotrichioides (F-0503)
The Fusarium strains owned by Institute for Fermentation:
Fusarium oxysporum IFO-5942
Fusarium anguioides IFO 4467
Gibberella zeae (F. graminearum) IFO 9462
Fusarium pallidoroseum IFO 30926
Fusarium roseum IFO 30966
Fusarium equiseti IFO 31095
Fusarium chlamydosporum IFO 31096
This invention is now described in detail. 
(wherein R1, R2 and R3 are respectively as defined hereinbefore)
The oxidase produced by the microorganism of this invention oxidizes the alcohol side chain of the compound of formula (II) to give the compound of the following chemical formula (I) (known from Kokai Tokkyo Koho S61-10590). It should be understood that the oxidase need not necessarily be an isolated pure product. Thus, the object compound (I) can be obtained with equal success by culturing the producer microorganism in the presence of compound (II) or using a fermentation broth of the microorganism of the invention, the cells harvested by filtering the broth, or a filtrate or the like available upon separation of the cells from said fermentation broth. 
(wherein R1, R2 and R3 are respectively as defined above).
The fermentation broth, the cells harvested by filtering the broth, or the filtrate available upon separation of the cells from the broth, which is used as the oxidase of the invention, can be obtained by culturing a Fusarium strain, e.g. Fusarium No. 122 or No. 104, in a culture medium.
Generally, those novel microorganisms can be grown in an aqueous medium containing assimilable carbon and nitrogen sources, preferably under aerobic conditions by shake culture or submerged aerobic culture.
The preferred carbon source for use in the medium includes but is not limited to carbohydrates such as glucose, maltose, sucrose, fructose, galactose, mannitol, glycerol, and starch.
The preferred nitrogen source includes organic nitrogenous substances such as soybean meal, cottonseed flour, wheat germ, gluten meal, corn steep powder, peanut flour, linseed oil powder, etc. and inorganic nitrogen compounds such as ammonium nitrate, ammonium sulfate, etc.
While those carbon sources and nitrogen sources are used in a suitable combination, it is not necessary to use purified products but crude substances of low purity can also be used insofar as they contain the corresponding amounts of inorganic nutrients.
If desired, inorganic salts such as potassium phosphate, magnesium sulfate, sodium chloride, iron sulfate, cobalt sulfate, etc. can be added. Particularly when the culture medium produces a copious foam, an antiforming agent such as liquid paraffin, fatty acids, vegetable oil, mineral oil or silicone oil can be added when necessary.
For mass culture of the microorganism, submerged aerobic culture i s preferred. For culture on a small scale, shake bottle culture or surface culture can be used. In the case of tank culture using a large fermentation tank, the tank is preferably inoculated with a seed culture for accelerated growth of the microorganism. Thus, the preferred procedure comprises inoculating a relatively small amount of medium with the conidia or hyphae of the microorganism, incubating the inoculated medium to prepare a seed culture, and transferring the seed culture aseptically to a large tank. The culture medium for use in the preparation of said seed culture may be substantially identical to the medium for tank culture or be a different medium.
The agitation and aeration of the fermentation system can be effected in various ways. The agitation can be effected by using a propeller or equivalent mixing device, rotating or shaking the fermentor, using a suitable pump, or blowing sterile air through the medium. The aeration may be effected by blowing sterile air through the fermentation system.
The fermentation is generally carried out within the temperature range of about 20xcx9c32xc2x0 C., preferably 25xcx9c30xc2x0 C., at pH preferably within the range of 6xcx9c8 for about 72xcx9c200 hours, although those conditions may be modified as necessary according to the other conditions and scale of fermentation.
The substrate FR066979 in the form of an aqueous solution can be added at the beginning of cultivation or at any other suitable time, and it may be a broth filtrate of low purity.
The transformation product FR900482 can be recovered from the medium by techniques of routine use for the recovery of other known bioactive metabolites. The transformation product FR900482 exists in the culture filtrate and can be separated and purified by filtration or centrifugation of the fermentation broth and subsequent routine procedures such as a conventional resin treatment using, for example, an adsorbent resin, crystallization and so forth.